Quillback

Forced myself to get up at O-Dark-Thirty for one more trip to Beaver. With the weather forecast and Memorial Day boat traffic this would be my last chance to chase them for several days at least. Launched at Indian Creek and motored down to the bluff by point 5. Didn't see a whole lot of top water activity, but from 0530 until 0700 there was some action and I boated 3 stripers, 2 on top and one on a Keitech. Still no big fish for me, a couple of 5 lbers and the Keitech fish was probably around 3.5 by my estimate. At 0700 they just flat out stopped. I kept the three I caught today and once they stopped biting, I was gone and was on the trailer at 0800. So here it is a little after 1030, fish are cleaned, boat is put away, and I am cleaned up too. The stripers did get their revenge today, I was pulling them out of the livewell, my hand slipped and the ball of my thumb went right over the end of a gill plate. Sliced open like a paper cut on steroids. That was not fun. Time for a nap.

Fished a couple of days this week, going early and looking for top water stripers. The 19th was a bit of a bust, had one striper blow up twice on the pencil popper and that was it. Did find them in a couple of spots and went right to one spot first thing this morning. Had a few chasing spawning shad right on the bank on my first stop, caught 3 of them on the pencil popper throwing at blow ups - no monsters, 5 lbers, plenty of fun on the bass tackle. Moved up lake a few miles to a bluff that always seems to hold them this time of year and caught a couple more there, 5 lbers once again, on the pencil popper. About 8 AM the bite tailed off. Not seeing any out in the channel, they seem to be keying on shad close to the bank. Not seeing any big schools either, just a few here and there, but they are pretty aggressive if you get on them when they come up. Not seeing any guides on this end of the lake which tells me there is probably a better bite to be had mid-lake.

It's set up for a pay me now or pay me later situation. Have to let the water run at some point, seems to me it is better to do it when you have some control over it rather than waiting until everything overflows and at that point you have no control. Forecast is still several days out, just have to hope it fizzles out and we don't get much rain.

Yes sir, that's what I think too. We need a dry rest of the year.

They regulate according to the gauge at Newport, here's a link to that gauge: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/ar/nwis/uv?site_no=07074500 Right now that gauge is at 18 feet well above the 14 foot level. From 8 May through 30 November - Regulate to 12 feet except, regulate to 14 feet from 15 May through 30 November, if the 4-lake system storage exceeds 70% full. I'm assuming storage capacity is above 70%.

I'm getting nostalgic for the good old days when we used to get droughts.

I have given up on seeing any fiscal sanity.

They said something about that on the news last night, pretty good percentage of the COVID cases here in AR were in prisons. Only about 1,000 cases statewide (active) right now.

We're partially open here in AR. Barbershop is open, but you have to call between 8 and 10 AM to make an appointment for that day, answer a half dozen questions and if you pass the test you can go in for a haircut. Some of the barbers in the shop I frequent are full time barbers so I am sure they will appreciate the business. Went over to Lowes a couple of days ago, went over about 8 AM to avoid the crowds, glad I did because every time a person checks out, they wipe down the countertop and around the checkers station. Plexiglass in place to. Must stand apart 6 feet in line, I was third inline and it took me 10 minutes to get checked out. Don't want to be there on a busy Saturday.

With heavy rain in the forecast, and the expected rise in the water level at TR, parking spots at the ramps will be limited. Therefore the COE has requested that boat owners use the least amount of space possible to park their rigs. Here's the pic they posted of the recommended way to park.

I've tried a lot of Elaztech stuff and I can't find anything that consistently beats the cut Zinker. Salt content is important to me also, give me a salty Zinker that I can turn into a piece of foam and I am happy.

Nice, man I love eating crabs.

Never ate one. May have to try one sometime. I'm thinking the poor man's lobster deal, especially if they have a chewy texture.

That's interesting - I wonder what they'll do about all the seasonal workers that come up there to process salmon in the summer? Workers come from all over and work in places that are a lot like meat processing facilities. I don't see how you can quarantine people coming in to fish, but not quarantine people coming in to work. If anything, it should be the other way around.

Some little brussels sprouts are starting to emerge on the plants, broccoli still chugging along. This lousy weather has been good for those plants.

I believe I remember that was mainly the point, that being around animals did the trick, it wasn't about rolling around in the dirt or drinking bad water.

Same here, plus the early ones are the best, later on the plants get wilt, horn worms show up, tomatoes start cracking, it's all bad after about the end of July.

I'm all righty with reels, I don't even think about it. I could use a lefty bait caster, but I would have to use them all the time, I could not have a couple of lefties on the deck and a couple of righties.

There was a study done in Europe somewhere (I saw it on PBS so it has to be true!), that farm kids had better immune systems and were less likely to develop allergies than city kids living in 'clean' conditions. I believe that to be true myself. However I will do what I can to try and not get Covid. Not that I am fretting about it, but don't want to catch it to see how well my immune system reacts.

Sights like that would keep me away too, used to fish the lower Columbia for sturgeon, but never saw any jumping trees. Columbia seems kind of tame compared to what you guys have seen on the MO.

By myself, I'd probably ,launch at Hickory creek on that end of the lake. Bob Kidd is definitely worth fishing, been a few years since I've fished it, but it holds a decent number of bass and supposedly has a good population of redear. I have never fished lake Elmdale, (somewhere west of Fayetteville) but remember seeing something from AGFC where they said there are TOO MANY BASS in that lake, and they were recommending people keep them. I'm pretty sure there is an AGFC launch there with courtesy dock. I always recommend a recon mission to check things out before towing the boat in. Might want to look into getting an Oklahoma license, Tenkiller and Hudson aren't too terribly far from Fayetteville. There's also Lake Fort Smith, very scenic lake, has a reputation for being tough to fish, but so does Beaver.

Welcome, I live in Bella Vista myself and coincidentally just happened to fish Windsor this morning. Bass are biting as you know. I'll keep an eye out for you, and I'm in a silver/black 19 foot Phoenix. I don't tourney fish but there's a couple of bass clubs that fish the BV lakes and have tourneys - maybe you know all about them, but if not I have some contact info.

Teachers can make or break a course. Good ones that can communicate and have a passion for what they are doing can make a course interesting and fun.

Yes, I am hoping this is the end of 50 degree 'highs' for a few months. This time of year a guy should be able to step out onto his boat wearing nothing but flip-flops and a Speedo and be comfortable all day.

Probably a good time to lock in on propane, assuming the price had dropped like gas has.